Given you've already fixed it with max-width I can't test this, but CSS 3 can also help out. The benefit of this approach is that the container can remain liquid:
white-space: pre-wrap; /* css-3 */
white-space: -moz-pre-wrap !important; /* Mozilla, since 1999 */
white-space: -pre-wrap; /* Opera 4-6 */
white-space: -o-pre-wrap; /* Opera 7 */
word-wrap: break-word; /* Internet Explorer 5.5+ */
You can read about this approach here: http://users.tkk.fi/tkarvine/pre-wrap-css3-mozilla-opera-ie....